My parents have recently each purchased an iPhone 5 and asked me to set them up. One of the most important things when changing mobile phones is transferring your contacts. But Apple don’t make it very easy.

I’m an Android man, I have never owned an Apple device nor do I know much about how they work or behave. Which is probably similar to quite a few people out there. So I turn to good old Google for a bit of advice.

Hours of searching on Google turned up a lot of rubbish about how you can back up your contacts through iTunes (which doesn’t seem to be supported any more), or backing up to and managing them through Gmail or Yahoo Mail, which would be good if I wanted to do that, but I wanted to get them onto the iCloud so they can synchronise and constantly update from that source. So I had to get a little bit creative and I thought that I’d share it with you who may be wanting the same end result – transferring your contacts quickly and easily (for free) from your Blackberry device in bulk onto the iCloud, here’s how…..

You will need:

Your Blackberry device.

Your iPhone – this needs to be set up so it is backing up to your contacts to your iCloud account. Check your settings.

Your Blackberry USB cable.

Blackberry Desktop Software – if you don’t have this you can get it here.

I thought I’d share this with you guys not just because it’s so cool, but for the amount of work that has gone into it by one guy. This is a short YouTube video called “Harry Potter: The OMEn Chronicles TEASER” by wrenthereaper. Check out his channel here.

This is a teaser video of what’s to come in September this year, I’m really excited to see what it’s like!

The video also stars 2 of my favourite YouTubers called Will and RJ. They are a couple who have recently moved to Los Angeles and make daily vlog videos for YouTube, very kindly allowing us into their everyday lives. Check out their channel here.

Well hasn’t it been a long time since I last posted?! Three whole months actually.

Life has certainly been busy for me over the last few months what with all the ups and downs it tries to throw. But I’m muddling through! Here’s a brief catch up of what’s been going on and what’s to come….

Travel

I had my string of holidays earlier this year which were great. My trip to Barcelona with my brother was a much needed change to the normal weekend. Then my 2 week exploring holiday with Gareth in Egypt was certainly one to remember. I am still due to write a little something about that holiday and post a few pictures as I think you’d find it interesting. Then there was our 4 day trip to Gran Canaria, well, I think I’ll just leave that one there!

Work

Just before my trip to Gran Canaria a colleague decided to leave the office where I work. Now I must explain that I work for a small family business, and the staff in my office used to consist of my Mum, my Dad (who works Mondays and Fridays here and Tuesdays through to Thursdays in our other office), my ex-colleague and myself. Between us we run 5 companies. Now, since we are down to mainly Mum and myself in this office I have found the workload to have increased far more than I thought it would. Put it this way, I’m looking forward to just having the chance to talk to the others about getting someone else in to help.

In no way am I complaining, I actually quite enjoy it when I’m busy, but I’m finding since we are working such intense days I have no energy at the weekends or week nights and certain aspects of my life are starting to suffer. For example, my social life! So this really needs a look at.

Fitness and Social

Following on from that, a few months ago I was reading a health blog (I would have posted the link but I have forgotten where it is) and it was talking about how we shouldn’t be focussing all our attention on how we are now, but how we will be 15 years on in our lives. This got me a little concerned as I had never thought of my health in this way before.

I’m not massively unhealthy, I don’t snack and I do a moderate amount of exercise but I have always known that I should be looking after myself far more than I am. Reading that blog made me think about many aspects of my lifestyle and how they are contributing factors to my health situation in years to come, which as I get older will get more and more irreversible. What’s more, I have never been the wellest of people; always getting sick when I was a child, suffering from asthma and eczema, and even now I find if I get run down (including overdoing it on a night out) or over stressed my body gives up and gets ill! If I’m like this now, how will I be in later life? So in light of all this I have decided:

To lose some weight and get in shape – I’ve never been a fan of the gym and quite frankly I don’t think it likes me much either, but needs must! I have a gym membership which is screaming out to be used more so this is my chance. But if I keep at it, hopefully I’ll get healthier than I am now, I should feel less tired/worn out, not be as prone to getting ill and most importantly I’ll be more ready (health wise) to face the rest of my life! I don’t feel the need to come out of the other end of this exercise looking like an Adonis, but I’d quite like to lose the “handles” above my waistline and firm up in a few other areas while I’m at it. Feeling more confident in myself and my look would be a plus point – yes I want to take my top off in the clubs!

To add more activities to my life and in turn meet new people – Well this part just makes me sound like a hermit! (which I’m not in case you’re wondering).I have been wanting to add some variety for a while now and I think I have found just the thing, Outdoor Lads. I have always been interested in trekking, camping, walking, mountaining etc. and I’d like to do more of it. I think this would be a great way of doing the things I like but also getting to know more guys like me. Plus the great thing is it’s away from the club/bar/scene culture and in the great ourtdoors.

Even though I have had the idea of Outdoor Lads in the back of my mind for about 9 months now I have never really acted on it. Maybe I’m a little apprehensive about the whole thing and meeting new people, I don’t know! That was until I heard about my friend.

About 4 months ago one of my best friends, I shall call him Dave, moved to London. I was both really excited and a bit nervous for him as London can be a very intense place to live; I’ve known a lot of people who have been swallowed up in the big smoke culture and sometimes do they don’t come out very squeaky clean on the other side (but that’s just what I have seen)! I had every confidence in Dave as he is a very responsible and level headed person as his job needs him to be, and I was sure he’d land on his feet with no problem, getting a great group of friends who would treat him right, and then it was approximately 1 month after he moved to London that I learned he had joined the London Gay Men’s Chorus.I am now so pleased for him as it has provided him with a stable, friendly, responsible group of guys who are from all walks of life, enjoying one thing together – singing, have a look at the YouTube video at the end of this paragraph to see exactly what I mean. There’s also a superb social aspect to this too.

One thing to note, and my point of all this is it’s a safe environment in which to meet other guys and make friends, much like Outdoor Lads which I have just registered for and I’m going to look into booking my first event soon. Dave and I actually discussed this last weekend when I went to visit him. Dave, if you’re reading this I’m really pleased it’s all working out for you and you are comfortable in your new home🙂

House Hunting

Nothing to report – mortgage lenders are idiots!

What’s to come?

Well this is the big question isn’t it?! To answer it truthfully, I don’t know, we’ll have to wait and see.

I’d quite like to go on another holiday towards the end of the year, I’m thinking Thailand for a couple of weeks with Explore, what do you guys think?

I also have a few qualifications to finish off which I should find time to do to be honest. One of the being the advanced driving course, which could be quite fun! Then I might look at possibly furthering my education with an AAT Qualification.

Clay pigeon shooting is on the cards too, as my father, brother and myself all got a voucher for Christmas, so I suppose that should be booked before the weather turns.

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Well it turns out I lied to you when I said “A short(ish) update” but I hope you have enjoyed reading this post anyway, and as always I invite you to leave comments or ask questions – I’ll always reply!

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Now I’m not going to start reeling off quotes each day, but I thought that this one is worth sharing as it’s relevant to everyone.

We all have to be given the opportunity to find out where we excel, this is not necessarily done through a grading system in a restricted schooling environment. There’s an opportunity there for everyone, we just have to find it and take it.